PaperSniper4

Thank you. So the OBC I can see for our Oct 2023 cruise must me military. At least that's all I can figure out!😎 Doug

What is the chronology for booking your cruise and apply for your military appreciation OBC? I booked in February 2023 for an October 2023 cruise. I read that I needed to re-apply with HAL for my military appreciation credit here on CruiseCritic around the beginning of April. I applied at HAL through SheerID, and received notification by email a week later than I was "approved and eligible". I am trying to determine if I will be able to use that military appreciation OBC on my upcoming cruise. I see a $100 OBC on my profile at hollandamerica.com but I cannot tell if that is for THIS cruise, or something I might book later. Odd that one has to re-apply for military appreciation OBC with HAL. I retired in 1994. We cruise often on Princess and Carnival and I don't remember when or how I submitted my military status, it was so many years ago. My military appreciation OBCs just showed on my cabin invoice as if by magic. 😉 Doug Retired USN 1994

Same for me. I retired from the USN in 1994, and applied somehow for one of our first Carnival or Princess cruises around that time. I've never had to update anything to get that OBC, apparently it happens automatically, or perhaps the TA I've been using for the last 20 years notifies the cruise line. More likely it's part of my "permanent record" with Carnival and Princess (ie, CCL I'd think). I was not aware of the HAL military OBC offer when I booked my HAL cruise several months ago. I recently read about it here on CC, so "applied" for it using ID.me and I got an "approval" a week or less later (4/11/2023). I thought it odd that HAL would not "see" my retired military status since they are part of CCL, but what the heck, no big deal to use SheerID.com. Or maybe it was ID.me I also booked an NCL cruise about the same time and also entered my military status with them, so I get the two processes confused maybe?🤔 I checked my Profile at HollandAmerica.com and see an OBC under Future cruise credits, but I cannot tell if it's going to be applied to the cruise I booked for October 2023 or can only be used for something I book in the future, but before the date is listed on that page (Dec 2025). I also cannot tell if it's a military OBC or maybe a stockholder OBC. I THINK it's military only because I have not applied for the stockholder OBC. I sure hope that the stockholder OBC at least will apply to my Oct 2023 cruise! We don't cruise on HAL very often, so I don't know if their military appreciation offer is a recent and temporary thing or not. Doug

Just checked. 176 days out. Booked Pinnacle Grill yesterday, but I still get the message below for excursions:

I just booked the Pinnacle Grill for our 21 October 2023 Nieuw Amsterdam cruise from Port Everglades. That's 176 days until we sail. However, I still cannot book any excursions for any of the ports we will visit. Doug

For our October 2023 cruise, I can see an OBC of $100 but I cannot tell if that is a military OBC or a CCL stockholder OBC. Anyone know what the ID means at the link above?

Not a problem. There are other dates that would work fine for us. Doug

Well, I will likely do the same re-booking. Seems silly to have me, my TA and NCL to all go through the hassle of canceling then re-booking, but for 10% it is worth it.

Roger that. I used ID.me a month or two ago for my HAL cruise this fall (2023) so I'm already verified, I apparently need to "apply" for the NCL discount; however, my TA told me that NCL will not allow me to take advantage of that military 10% discount for my existing March 2024 cruise. So I suppose I will cancel that cruise, then re-book the same cruise to take advantage of the discount. Seems cumbersome to me, but I can play the game if needed. Glad I got the refundable deposit on the cruise! Doug

Oh boy, I can see our Irish members getting "their Irish up" over that! I'm an American with both Scottish and Irish ancestors, so I jump to the side of the boat that yells the loudest usually. I can handle whiskey and whisky equally well, but I do have a problem match the brogue with the drink.😉 Doug

Sure, as long as those adult children were in the military.😎

Of course. I talked to my TA, and he sees no problem. He even gave me a link to check that I've gotten the discount. I'll take a look at that tomorrow.

That was weird indeed. We got our OBC refund about 4 weeks after the cruise and it was dated properly. Doug

Thanks, I don't anticipate a problem. If there is, I will just cancel the cruise (March 2024), then re-book the same one, same cabin and request my military discount. That's substantial for a $3k cruise! I am glad to see NCL offering that inducement to us military folk; always good to be recognized for what we did. It's especially good for us since we can drive to New Orleans, and NCL has a nice ship there (Breakaway). Now if RCI would just do the same thing; starting next fall they are the other cruise line in NOLA besides NCL and Carnival. Carnival of course offers a military OBC, but we try to avoid sailing on Carnival cruises that are not overseas or over 10 days in length. Doug

I just did it. When I look at my My Account now, I see Military Appreciation on the screen. However, I now need to see where I get my fare re-priced. I booked the cruise several months ago, but retired from the Navy over 20 years ago. I asked my TA to check into getting the discount fare on my next cruise which sails March 2024.

Ha, reminds me of when we could just <barely> afford cruising in the 1990s! We sailed on the NCL Spirit from NOLA since we could save money by driving to the port. I remember booking the least expensive ocean view cabin for about $1700 total for the two of us. Those were 7 day cruises. I think sometimes the water was up about 1/3 of the way up the porthole; we were 'way down on some lower deck! But It was actually a decent porthole, maybe 3 sqft. Back then they did not offer any perks like drink packages and other inducements. BTW, how are you getting pre-paid gratuities? We've never had that on our NCL cruises. Doug

Ah, if it's recent that would explain a lot. I went to NCL.com to try to do whatever to get credit for my military service, but I could find nothing there. Doug

I must be blind. I just went to NCL.com and could not find anything to do with a veteran's discount. I looked under My Account and tried the Help button. I wish all cruise lines would use the same method for determining military history. I've used ID.me and the one that HAL uses, I forget its name. Plus whatever Princess uses, which is the one I use the most often. If you can send me a link to where that veteran's section is it would be appreciated! Doug

Dang, I've sailed with NCL a lot as I said earlier, and if I've even gotten a military discount it was transparent to me. I will check with my TA who booked those NCL cruises, including the one coming up next March. He may have gotten a military rate for me and just didn't mention it. Doug

You're getting a military discount? Is it a special cruise that offers that? I'm retired military and cruise NCL about ever other March, but I've gotten a military OBC like many other cruise lines, nor a special 10% military rate as far as I know. We sail NCL out of New Orleans since we can drive to that port. Doug

Ours is, Brilliance of the Seas. But ouch! So some ships you cannot even pre-order from that meager triad! That's really rotten. 😳 Doug

Thank you! Doug

A good question for your cabin steward since he could be the fellow tootin' them come midnight. I know it's pretty late when they start moving the bags. We are always in bed at that time on all past cruises. But then we get between the sheets about 2200/10PM. If you are worried about those packed bags taking up too much room in your cabin, we have put them on our balcony if we're packed early. Of course, it helps to have a balcony... and decent weather that last night.......😉 Doug

I used to know this but forgot. We have TriCare for Life with my USN military retirement. I believe it is valid outside the USA, but only as a secondary payer. I never count on it for anything though, I buy insurance as if I didn't have it. Doug

I don't see where it varies by ship at that link. All one can do on that page is choose between the three spirits offered. Clicking on one of those three then shows fields for the ship and the date appear and are for selecting your cruise. Or are you saying that once onboard I might be able to order a bottle for delivery to my cabin? Princess is/was like that; either pre-order, or order from cabin service once under way. We're still working on how we're going to handle the adult beverage situation on the Brilliance....but we have lots of time; our sail date isn't until October of 2024. 😎 We also need to figure out if we can bring soft drinks with us when we board. Anyone know? Doug